UK programme at the Synthposium music technology festival

Synthposium is an annual Moscow-based festival exploring a new interdisciplinary culture at the intersection of electronic music and technology.

The 2017 line-up includes more than 150 musicians from Russia and around the world spanning genres from house and techno to classical electronica, electroacoustic improvisation and other more experimental forms.

This year’s extended four-day festival also features an educational programme of lectures, public talks and workshops led by industry experts worldwide alongside a series of audiovisual installations, performances and exhibitions.

The festival will take place at the Moscow Contemporary Art Centre (‘Winzavod’) while Moscow Film School will host the educational programme. An evening programme of after parties will be held at popular clubbing venues in Moscow.

UK programme

Headlining the UK programme is London-based musician and producer Max Cooper. Cooper has carved out a unique position for himself fusing emotional dance floor experimentation with fine art sound design and visuals to explore scientific insights. Cooper’s emotive album, Emergence, merges club-ready techno and electronic ambiance, taking cues from the natural world to forge a kinetic environment in which every little thread is felt.

The programme also features London-based peripheral pop producer, DJ and NTS Radio presenter Throwing Shade (also known as Nabihah Iqbal). Having debuted on Kassem Mosse’s Ominira imprint, Throwing Shade’s latest EP, House of Silk, was released via Ninja Tune in 2016. Commissioned by the Tate to compose music for the Turner Prize, she performed live at the Tate Modern and the Tate Britain as well as the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA).

UK writer, journalist and broadcaster Matthew Sweet will give a talk entitled ‘Brits in Space’. Sweet is an author of bestselling books Inventing the Victorians, Shepperton Babylon: The Lost Worlds of British Cinema and The West End Front. A familiar voice in UK broadcasting, he also presents podcasts on BBC Radio 3 and 4. Sweet’s talk will focus on pioneering UK electronic and orchestral composers who used music to describe space travel, time travel and the new worlds of science fiction. Composers include Arthur Bliss, Tristram Cary, Delia Derbyshire, Mica Levi (‘Micachu’), Elisabeth Lutyens, Daphne Oram and Steven Price.

The programme also involves three-man collective London Modular Alliance on the latest developments in modular synth engineering. Alongside designing their own modular synth training course and selling units from their shop front in East London, London Modular Alliance also perform live – exploring cooperation between humans and machines. They performed recently at the Tate Britain and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).

Organisers

Synthposium is a team of Russian music industry activists set up by PR agency Main in Main. The festival aims to unite producers, musicians, engineers, musical instrument experts and audiences. Over the last three years, Synthposium has involved 156 artists and experts and an audience of 7,000. Now a major event in Moscow’s cultural calendar, the festival is supported by big brands and national and international media outlets, reaching sector and non-sector specific audiences alike.